CHAPTER 110: ENHANCE CRYSTAL

Several Liners who had grabbed their wooden buckets started climbing the steep, rocky path up the mountain. Gara and his group followed once Fian picked up his bucket.

Gara walked side by side with Orman, while Kevio strode a few steps ahead, clearly uncomfortable being near them. Fian stayed faithfully one step behind Gara.

"Why are you still taking missions to assist newbie if you already have a job?" Gara asked, partly to stave off boredom.

From what he knew, Liners took missions after their initial missions to gain points. More points meant higher rank, and higher rank meant job opportunities.

"I’m not doing it because I want to. It’s my boss’s orders," Orman replied, a look of resigned nostalgia on his face. "Kevio is my boss’s favorite. He’s impossible to manage. Even my boss doesn’t dare scold him. He hoped someone could discipline him..."

"And among all your boss’s employees, you’re the only one who can discipline him?" Gara guessed.

Orman nodded, pride briefly flashing in his eyes, then returned to a look of resignation. "But it’s so boring. The points aren’t enough to help me rank up either."

Gara chuckled softly. "Still, you’ve got to finish it."

Orman nodded, still resigned. "It’s almost over anyway. Just a few more days, then I can get back to work and claim the reward my boss promised."

He let out a small, gleeful laugh. Gara shook his head, noticing Orman’s excitement about some extra reward he didn’t bother asking about. But...

"I get an enhance crystal! Finally, I can boost my Talent," Orman said, eyes sparkling. "And at the end of the year, I’ll get another one."

Gara raised an eyebrow. "Enhance crystal?"

Clapping his hands, Orman looked at him. "Oh, right. You spent all your time in the village. I didn’t know what an enhance crystal was either before meeting other Liners..."

"So... what is it?" Gara asked impatiently.

"Like the name suggests, it enhances Talent. For someone with strength-based Talent, their strength increases. For a defense-based Talent like mine, my earth block might become sturdier... or even bigger," Orman explained enthusiastically.

"And one of the perks of working in my boss’s factory is getting one enhance crystal per year."

Gara grew very curious. "Is it normal to get an enhance crystal as an annual bonus? Are they easy or hard to get? And what about nobles?"

Orman explained everything he knew. Enhance crystals were expensive and not easy to obtain. Commoners had a hard time acquiring them, but nobles always had a way.

Orman’s boss, for instance, had a cousin who was trusted by a wealthy noble in Raksa County and got the crystals through that connection.

Not every job offered an enhance crystal, and even for the county, they were extremely rare.

Hearing this, Gara realized the potential of enhance crystals. With one, people could maximize the potential of dual-Talents, right?

"Are there any setbacks with enhance crystals?" he asked, guessing that there had to be something more.

"Madha was right. You really are clever," Orman suddenly praised before answering Gara’s question. "Yes. Not all enhance crystals succeed. Most fail. Some even backfire and harm the user. If I had to guess, maybe only one out of a hundred actually works."

"But I’ll be that one in a hundred," Orman continued confidently.

It turned out that the enhance crystal wasn’t as amazing as Orman had imagined. In fact, it could even weaken a Liner.

"Aren’t you afraid it might backfire and harm you?" Gara asked.

"No," Orman replied confidently. "They say most people’s abilities drop drastically, but with five to ten years of training, they recover. For the crippled, the Talent disappears entirely, and death... well, that’s rare. I’ve already got my job—"

"Rare... meaning it’s happened before?" Gara interrupted, eyes wide.

Orman scratched the back of his neck. "Yes, but it’s extremely rare. I’m not unlucky enough for that to happen, right?"

Gara wanted to say that anything could happen, but he held his tongue. Instead, he simply said, "You’d better think twice before using it."

"No worries. I already have a steady job, making earth blocks for construction. My blocks are big enough now. Even if a setback shrinks them, it won’t make much difference," Orman said with a broad grin.

"Just... be careful," Gara replied. He wouldn’t force Orman; clearly, the man had been waiting for the chance to use the crystal. Gara could only hope it would succeed.

They continued walking, while Orman sharing stories of people who had succeeded with their enhance crystals.

"One who at first could only summon a flame the length of a finger could now burn down a tree with a single strike. Another, who once managed no more than a shallow scratch on stone, could finally cleave half a boulder with a wind blade."

"That’s impressive. But the drawback is far too severe," Gara muttered, shaking his head.

The other Liners began to slow down. Their bodies leaned forward, gasping for breath. Even Kevio, who had stubbornly insisted on leading, was now trudging behind Fian.

Gara and Fian, meanwhile, stayed relaxed. They were used to climbing mountains to reach the herb fields.

Even in the past few months as Gara’s belly had grown, they hadn’t taken the usual path but instead navigated through dense trees and thick roots, running and jumping to avoid obstacles. It was nothing difficult, especially compared to just hiking up a rocky incline.

Orman, however, began to tire. Even so, he could endure better than most.

During missions with Madha, he often drank Madha’s water—given by Gara—and had been forced into stamina training, which helped him build endurance.

"Once again, Madha is my saviour," Orman muttered, praising endlessly.

At the front, Mohan and Kian led the way, followed by Gara, Orman, and Fian. The rest lagged further behind.

Perhaps Loka was the only one in the back who wasn’t panting. Normally, he would have been at the front, but Narin clung to him like a koala hugging a tree trunk.

...